(via prudence-stewart)
This photo was taken by photojournalist Kevin Carter in 1993. It’s of an emaciated Sudanese girl who was struggling to reach a feeding centre and had to stop and rest; a vulture landed behind her. Carter stopped to take a photo. The girl eventually kept walking, and the vulture flew away.
The photo won a Pulitzer prize. The photographer killed himself. He was 33.
Part of Carter’s suicide note read: “I am haunted by the vivid memories of killings and corpses and anger and pain … of starving or wounded children, of trigger-happy madmen, often police, of killer executioners.”
Many people heavily criticized Carter for taking the photograph rather than helping the girl. Truth is, journalists are expected to be detached. They are expected to be mere observers. From personal experience, I know that one of the very first things that is drilled into a journalist’s mind is be objective.
Journalists are also expected to be the ones to witness the unthinkable, bring the news home, open up eyes, spread the word and make sure everyone’s voice is heard.
Andersoon Cooper got involved in Haiti. He pulled an injured, bleeding child from (more) harm’s way, after the boy had a cinder block thrown at his head. Does that go against what a journalist should do? According to the books, yes, yes, it does. Was it wrong? No. Any way you spin it, Cooper still did the right thing to do.
Why are journalists reporting in Haiti? To make sure everyone is informed. To get people involved. To put people at the heart of the scene and urge them to lend a helping hand which could save lives, some of which are hanging by a thread. That also means that if a journalist sees a boy bleeding to near-death with no one helping him, he or she is going to remember their ultimate duty, both as a reporter and as a human being, is to make a positive difference, and that means lending their own hand when no one else is.
